fontaine



(No Model.) 7

A. S. PONTAINE.

PICTURE MAT.

Pate nted Mar} 17, 1885.

N. PFIERS. Phalo-Limognphnr, Wa -hi n nnnnn C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALLEN S. FONTAINE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO FREDERICK KEPPEL & 00., OF SAME PLACE.

Pl-CTU RE- MAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 314,008, dated March 1'7, 1885.

Application filed November 17, 188-1. (No modvl.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALrEN S. FoNrAINu'of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in- Picture-Mats or Passe-Partouts; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

My improvement relates to mats for pictures.

In the old styles of mats constructed with a foundation of wood it has been customary to face them with paper and card-board as a finish. The inner border or edge of the wood strip is covered with paper, and after the strip has been made up into a frame an un broken facing of flat cardboard of a size conforming to that of the frame is'secured thereon,

" the inner edge of the card-board being made to overlap and conceal the edge of the paper facing. This card-board facing is necessarily heavy in order to conceal the overlapping of the inner edge of the paper facing, and consequently an objectionable shoulder or offset is formed by its inner edge around the border of the mat. The cardboard is in itself expensive and its application comparatively costly.

To avoid the objections incident to the use of card-board as 21. facing, an unbroken facing of paper has in some instances been substituted therefor, and the unsightly seam or ridge which would appear were the paper facing in the mat made to overlap a paper lining on its inner border is avoided by dispensing en tirely with such a lining of paper and simply painting or coating the wood with a suitable composition producing asmooth finish; but this character of border is not desirable for various reasons, and the frame thus finished is not in demand.

The object of my invention is to avoid the oh- 4 5 j ections to the use of the card-board facing and to a mat constructed with a border which is painted or covered only with a composition,and

' to produce a finished wood mat having an inner paper-lined border and a facing unbroken at the corners and perfectly smooth and uniform from edge to edge, and at a greatly reduced cost,due to an economy in the materials and in the amount of labor required for its manufacture.

It consists in combining the paper covering for the border with a wooden strip or molding which is formed with. a rabbet along its inner edge inside the termination of the curved or inclined face thereof, so that the inner edge of the paper applied to and secured upon the border to line and cover it shall abut against the shoulder or offset formed by the rabbet, and make a flush joint with the face of the strip adjoining the rabbet. A paper facing is fitted and secured upon the frame made from this paper-bordered strip, the facing being made to overlap and wholly conceal the flush joint between the inner edge of the paper border and the strip.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a corner of my improved mat; Fig. 2, a transverse section of the wooden strip used in the manufacture of the mat; Fig. 3, a transverse section in line :0 m of Fig. 1, the paper facing of the mat being removed;

and Fig. 4, a similar section of the mat in V complete form, as shown in Fig. 1.

A represents the wooden strip customarily employed as the foundation for a picture-mat or passe-partout.

B (see Fig. 2) is a rabbet formed along the inner edge of the strip within the inner termination of the customary curve'or bevel, O, of said inner edge. This rabbet is cut out of the body of the strip if the strip be left in its natural state; but Where the strip is coated with a composition of glue and whiting or other material, asis often the case, the rabbet may be formed in said coating by indenting the same. The rabbet B extends uniformly along the entire length of the strip parallel with its edge, producing a shoulder or offset of a uniform depth, which is gaged to corre spond exactly with the thickness of the paper to be employed in covering the inner edge or border,O,of the strip, so that when the paper is laid in the rabbet and pasted down its outer face shall be uniform with the uncovered face of the strip, making a neat flush joint there with.

D is the strip of paper applied to and se- I cured upon the inner edge, 0, of the strip. One edge of the paper I) is laid neatly against the shoulder produced by the rabbet B, and the other carried under the strip, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings, so that the paper forms a neat and perfect facing for the edge of the strip.

The rabbeted strip A, having its inner rounded or beveled edge or border covered with paper, is cut and fitted to form a frame, E. (See Figs. 1 and 3.) A facing of comparatively thin paper, F, is then cut out of a single unbroken sheet to form a continuous unbroken seamless facingpiece, whose inner edge is adapted to overlap slightly thejoint A of, the paper border-covering D with the strip A, so as to conceal the same along its entire length, and as the joint is made, as above described, with a flush smooth surface, no rib, seam, or other indication of the pres ence of thejoint is apparent through its thin paper facing F. This outer edge of the facing F is made continuous with that of the mat, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4..

The paper facings D and Fare secured upon the strip A by means of glue or paste in. the customary manner, so as to become practically an integral portion thereof.

The mat formed as above described shows no joint or seam at the angles thereof, because of the continuity of the paper facing F, as shown in Fig. 1, and it is produced at a far less cost than a mat faced with card-board. It is also far lighter. neater, and preferable in all respects, and is free from the disadvantage of having a thick edge or offset along the inner edge of the facing, which is unavoidable in the cardboard-faced mats.

I claim as my invention The combination,with a wooden foundationframe in a picture-mat, of a paper lining carried around and upon the inner edge or border of the mat and fitted against an offset in the face of the frame to produce a flush joint therewith, and a thin continuous paper facing fitted upon the frame to cover its face and overlap the edge of the lining upon its inner border, so as to conceal the joint of the latter with the frame, all substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALLEN S. FONTAINE.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. ELLIs, A. B. MOORE. 

